Study Guide to Man, Economy, and State with Power and Market

234 Study Guide to Man, Economy, and State with Power and Market
this biological analogy overlooks the criterion of “fitness” in a
marketplace: serving the wishes of the consumers. Those who
feel the market has been too harsh with particular people are
free to set up assistance programs.
11. Power and Coercion
A. “Other Forms of Coercion”: Economic
Power
Those who claim that government must counterbalance
private economic power (such as that wielded by an
employer) mischaracterize the situation. If an employer
refuses to hire a worker, he is merely exercising his property
right; i.e., he is simply refraining from exchanging
his money for the worker’s labor services. If the government
can justly use violence to compel an exchange, then
the individual worker would likewise be entitled to take
the employer’s money through force.
B. Power Over Nature and Power Over Man
References to “robber barons” and “economic royalists”
are inappropriate. The market economy is a positive
sum game, in which there is a harmony of interests. As
man’s power over nature grows, civilization develops. Yet
a rise in one man’s power over another man retards growth
and represents a net loss.
12. The Problem of Luck
It is true that the uncertainty of the future allows some to
prosper and others to suffer through “luck.” However, this
alone does not prove that market outcomes are unfair. After all,
it is possible that all of the rich are actually earning less than
their true DMVPs, while all of the poor are currently enjoying